Bob Wiseman Online

beethoven

I saw a physiotherapist for a problem I assumed was arthritis and she said it was just from sleeping with a bad pillow. I wonder if the need to think the worst relates to evolution? A survival instinct that does some positive cracking the whip on oneself? In an interview some years ago with an artist I admire they spoke about struggles with writer’s block. I thought if one actually had writer’s block saying it out loud probably seals the deal it or put another way to not say you have it might keep you from getting it. The physiotherapist said she sees this all the time and my range of motion increased while doing the exercises she prescribed. A mid 70s friend of mine has Parkinson’s. Recently told me their guitar playing is now finished, they cannot coordinate strumming and fingering. I think of them while I do the physio exercises hoping it is true that these steps which increase my range of motion and getting over the discomfort but my friend’s situation doesn’t hold the same promise. In their head they probably have to manage darker places the mind goes from constantly reminded you’re condition is no longer how you lived most your life. My faourite musical story as a kid was that Beethoven lost his hearing but could still hear internally and that’s how he kept writing.

1 Comment

some have argued that being confined to hearing ‘internally’ is what propelled him to push the limits of what he could do artistically. i.e. the last symphonies, and in particular the late string quartets bear little resemblance to the ‘Haydn-esque’ flavour of the early to middle period.